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Second Chance

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As editor-in-chief of New York’s leading fashion magazine, Fiona Monaghan was utterly content with her life, jetting back and forth between Manhattan and Europe–-until the sweltering day John Anderson strolled into her office. A widower with two daughters, John was as conservative as Fiona was freewheeling, both amused and appalled by her world of high-strung designers, anorexic models, Fendi-stuffed closets, and Sir Winston, her snoring bulldog. But after Fiona impulsively invited John to the Paris couture shows, somewhere between the magic of the runway and the stroll along the Seine, she let him into her heart. And within weeks of their return to New York, John was making friends with Sir Winston-–and Fiona was making room in her closets.

It didn’t take long for the dominoes to start falling. First, John introduced Fiona to his hostile daughters and their bloodthirsty Pekingese and snarling housekeeper. Then, after a disastrous dinner party with John’s biggest client, Fiona and John’s relationship began to unravel with alarming speed. What happens next will set Fiona on a journey filled with pain, revelation, and awakening. When she risks everything and returns to Paris alone, an extraordinary series of events begins to unfold. And as the snow falls on the city of light, the curtain will rise on a second act Fiona never saw coming.

In a dazzling tale of modern misadventures and career-crossed relationships, Danielle Steel captures the heady magic of instant attraction, the challenges of change-–and the hope that comes when we dare to do it all over again.

336 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

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About the author

Danielle Steel

911 books16.7k followers
Danielle Steel has been hailed as one of the world's bestselling authors, with almost a billion copies of her novels sold. Her many international bestsellers include All That Glitters, Royal, Daddy's Girls, The Wedding Dress, The Numbers Game, Moral Compass, Spy, and other highly acclaimed novels. She is also the author of His Bright Light, the story of her son Nick Traina's life and death; A Gift of Hope, a memoir of her work with the homeless; Expect a Miracle, a book of her favorite quotations for inspiration and comfort; Pure Joy, about the dogs she and her family have loved; and the children's books Pretty Minnie in Paris and Pretty Minnie in Hollywood.

Facebook.com/DanielleSteelOfficial
Instagram: @officialdaniellesteel

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5 stars
2,612 (33%)
4 stars
2,240 (28%)
3 stars
2,094 (27%)
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596 (7%)
1 star
194 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 276 reviews
Profile Image for Suz.
1,559 reviews860 followers
December 26, 2016
I had to stop reading this as I've the feeling it's been read before. Or it's too generic. Who knows?! I was looking for a fluffy read. Will have to take a look at my two bags of DS novels and chose another. What a hard life!
Profile Image for Fuglsang.
96 reviews
July 29, 2012
Danielle Steel's books have been on the New York Times bestseller list for 6,298 years, she's published 50,942 books and they've all been made into movies that all enchant our hearts with their heartwarming tales of romance and family life... or something - I'm parafrasing here. It stands to reason she must be a brilliant writer or else how could she become that popular? I'll tell you how: the world isn't friggin' fair.

I'm sure a lot of people enjoy Steele's books because they're romance and they can even be used for escapism (up till a certain point - more about that in the section where I shamelessly spoil the ending). Other than that, though, I don't feel like this book has any merit whatsoever.

I absolutely loathe the characters. The main character worst of all because she is so flipping perfect. I think maybe that Steel is trying to characterise her all the way through, but all I hear is 'She's wearing this brand, eating at this restaurant, her servant is like this, her dog is like this AND SHE IS PURFECTSES!' and it's BORING and grating and annoying to no end. Her major flaw is, surprise, commitment issues. Oh, how flippin' original. Never heard that one before. Oh, and these commitment issues disappear the second she meets Mr. SuperduperperfectI'msohotI'msoperfect. BIG FRIGGIN' SURPRISE. Every once in a while I actually considered flinging the book across the room (I actually did so when I was done) and I found myself trying to punch it more than once. That was how sick I was of that overperfect little... GAH.

IT'S TIME FOR SPOILEEERS - DA-DU-DA-DUN-DA-DA-DUUUUUUN!

Plot, don't talk to me about plot, nothing much happens: Mary Su... sorry, Fiona, meets Mr. SuperduperperfectI'msohotI'msoperfect, they have a sweeping love affair and then start living together and IT IS PURFECTSES. Then stuff goes to hell - really fast. Mr. SuperduperperfectI'msohotI'msoperfect's family consists of a dead wife, two bitches (his daughters) and an old, angry woman and a tiny dog and they all HATE FIONA FOR NO REASON. Yeah, sure, Steel informs us that they hate her because the dude's wife died two years ago but the reason it really happens is so that Mr. SuperduperperfectI'msohotI'msoperfect can become EVUL GRUMPYFACE and divorce her (oh, yeah, they get married or somethin') and that gives her a chance to cry and move to Paris and become a writer... (a WRITER as a main character in a book? I never heard that one before!) and then she grows as a person and is much stronger and much more beautifullser when Mr. SuperduperperfectI'msohotI'msoperfect becomes Mr. SuperduperperfectI'msohotI'msoperfect again and meets her again and they live happily ever after.

Also, she was raped by her stepfather.

And that is 'Second Chance' by Danielle Steel. Man, this book is... hey, wait a sec...

She was RAPED BY HER STEPFATHER? And it was mentioned as a sort of offhand remark in the last fifty pages or so? Really? REALLY?! what the frick? How was that necessary? She just wasn't tragic enough, she had to have been raped, too? And it wasn't mentioned before? What.

Seriously. That is the biggest ass pull in the history of ass pulls. I mean. What. It wasn't relevant to the character that she had been RAPED by her STEPFATHER? What... WHAT.

Okay, that's it. I refuse to say anything more about this STUPID book. I flat out refuse to review any more of it. That's it - nothing more about characters or plot or anything at all. It's too stupid. It's degrading. I won't. No, I'm going to talk about something else.

Puppies. No, that reminds me of the book. Kittens. Yes, cute, fluffly kittens with big eyes like pearls that glisten with love and devotion. And duckies. Fluffy, yellow duckies going for a walk with their mummies. And a little elephant with flappy ears and a little mouth under its cute little trunk. Oh, and badgers. And armadillos.

I already feel much better.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
262 reviews12 followers
May 11, 2019
This book was amazing. Danielle Steel never fails when it comes to her books. Her writing style is elegant, sophisticated and pure. When reading this book I had a feeling that I had already read this book before, and as it turns out, I have but I was already half way through the book, and I had forgotten what happened at the end. So I stuck with it and I feel like I found out more this time than when I first read it. I loved it. :)
Profile Image for Tracy.
290 reviews1 follower
May 27, 2018
Dumped it and then went back to it for nothing else to read at the time but still thought it was Crap. Fiona is perfect perfect perfect. Crap crap crap. Too good looking, too popular, too nice, too tough, too good at her job, gets everything, knows everybody........ Pleeeeeeze! Don't bother. Too many good books out there.
Profile Image for Carol Storm.
Author 28 books235 followers
February 23, 2021
Everyone always talks about Danielle Steel phoning it in, but this time it was just too much even for me. Fiona is a total Miranda Priestley clone, and John is like a random phot0-shopped image of a rich white businessman in a suit. They get together but it doesn't work out because John's daughters, his dog, and his housekeeper, all hate glamorous Fiona.

That in itself is fine. But DS is so bored with the characters and doesn't even try to make them individuals! There are a million creative ways the two daughters could have attacked Fiona. She's in a career that objectifies women. The fashion world excludes women of color. There's no positive way to spin the work she does. I mean, any twelve year old girl could watch The Devil Wears Prada and invent better conflict than what you get in this book. Oh, and the dog bites Fiona. Twice. So funny I forgot to laugh!

And there's other stuff too. John is a white, uptight, straight executive. And he panics because every time he comes over to Fiona's fabulous town house, her gay house man (from Pakistan) is running around in harem pants and high heels. There are so many genuinely funny, genuinely edgy, genuinely human interactions the straight white man could have with the gay man from Pakistan. At the very least, I was hoping for a few Gunga Din jokes! ("Now the uniform 'e wore/It was nothing much before/And a little less than 'arf 'o that behind!") But we get nothing. John freaks out and dumps Fiona, and we never even get Gunga Din's side of the story.

I can't recommend sticking with this story. But the last fifty pages of the book are actually the best, because Fiona moves to Paris and starts over, and whenever she's writing about Paris Danielle Steel comes alive. It's hard to describe, but she has somehow got a deeper emotional connection with the shops and restaurants of Paris than she does with the characters she's writing about. It reminds me of something I read once about the flyer Charles Lindbergh, that he could connect emotionally with machines but not with people. Danielle Steele isn't that bad, but this is one book you should skip.

Look for CHANGES instead. It tells almost the exact same story, with much better characters. Even if the shopping isn't as good!
10 reviews1 follower
December 7, 2020
Disappointed. Johns lack of character development makes his character very hard to sympathise with, which is also very important in the book because if you, as a reader, are not able to sympathise with his reasoning for marrying and leaving then remarrying Fiona, then you wont be able to forgive him, even though he’s so perfect that he could be God himself. I can’t help but feel this book is VERY unrealistic, with the two sentences addressing Fionas rape from her step-father, but apart from that, all throughout this book, we just constantly hear about how Fiona must adjust and comprimise for John. NOWHERE in the book does it talk about John comprimising for Fiona. Thus leaving the impression that John is only in love with the idea of Fiona, which was constantly reinforced by his obsession with commenting on the attractiveness of her body and face.

I wouldn't consider myself to be a massive feminist, eventhough i know im sounding like one. But MY GOD, i can't help but feel that John is so unfair to FIona. I could accept their break up since i believed that it had allowed Fiona to truly embrance and explore herself BLAH BLAH BLAH. However, Danielle Steel makes it incredibly obvious that her intent was to get them back together by making it seem as though Fiona couldnt EVER move on from John, which meant abandoning her social life forever. And for a very sociable, colourful and passionate character, this was a very unwelcomed aspect to the novel.

This book is rushed just to get some money, im horrible enough to say that im glad i only got it for 20p from the charity shop. Anymore and it would have been stealing...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for MisskTarsis.
1,253 reviews97 followers
May 20, 2018
Es un libro precioso que me hizo aguar los ojos en los momentos importantes. Es un amor que va madurando, ambos protagonistas no son niños, ya llevan un camino recorrido y con una maleta a cuestas en su vida.
La prota me encanta, es una mujer empoderada, que ha tenido fama, dinero y respeto. Que no está dispuesta a cambiar por nadie hasta que cae enamorada... y pues, de verdad que se cae del cielo y se estrella durísimo.

description

Y ahí tocan muchos temas importantes, ¿debes ceder y abrir espacio a una nueva persona, pero eso significa que debas dejar a un lado tu trabajo y tu vida? ¿Las promesas son para siempre, realmente necesitan un papel que valide el amor? ¿Deben dejarse dominar por el entorno?

YO personalmente, no creo que la culpa de la ruptura haya sido de ella, sino de él. ÉL que no supo darle un lugar en su vida y tampoco la dio a respetar como su esposa, creo que él fue quien falló realmente.
Profile Image for Julie.
Author 16 books17 followers
December 12, 2019
I’m so pissed by Fiona. After all the heartbreak he caused you, you took him back after a one night stand? Seeeeeesh!!!!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Julie.
904 reviews11 followers
Read
September 11, 2016
Repetitive descriptions. The first half is slow, but then the pace picks up. There are formulaic, run-on sentences.
Profile Image for Nu Jahat Jabin.
149 reviews241 followers
February 7, 2017
এ পৃথিবী একবার পায় তারে, কোন দিন পায় নাকো আর।
জীবনানন্দ দাশের অসাধারন এই লাইনটা কি এই বইয়ের সাথে যায়? অবশ্যই না। শুধু মাত্র বইয়ের নামের কারনেই কথাটা বলা।
পৃথিবী খুব কম মানুষকেই ২য় সুযোগ দেয়, তারা ২য়য় সুযোগ পায় তারা জানে না ঠিক কতটা ভাগ্যবান তারা। আর জানে না বলেই ২য়য় সুযোগটাও হেলায় হারায়।


এক অতি সাধারন আমেরিকান রোমান্টিক উপন্যাস। আমেরিকান রোমান্টিক বই পত্র পড়ে আনন্দ পাই না, কি দূর্ভাগা একটা জাতি ভালবাসা�� সংগাটা তারা কি অদ্ভুত ভাবেই না এত ফালতু করে ফেলেছে।

এক শরৎচন্দ্রের শ্রীকান্ত পড়ে কত দিনই না মন খারাপ করে বসে ছিলাম আর এই আমেরিকান ভালবাসার কাহিনী শুনলে মন ভাল খারাপ দূরে থাকুক তিক্ত বিরক্ত লাগে।
ভালবাসায় এরা ঠিক কতটা দীনহীন এরা বোধহয় নিজেরাও জানে না। ঘুরে ফিরে সবার কাছে একইই জিনিস।
Profile Image for Vicki.
2,709 reviews112 followers
October 4, 2012
Danielle Steele's Second Chance is a a good romance novel with believable characters; however, I found some of the reactions of characters not to be very realistic. Perhaps that is why I didn't fall in love with them.

The story did have some good laughable moments, which always helps to make a book good. The plot is easy to follow and the structure is not hard to understand either, so it provides a simple read.

This definitely isn't one of my favorite books, but it's okay for a rainy day if you like books that don't challenge you to think.






Profile Image for Mashael Alamri.
328 reviews567 followers
June 18, 2008
رواية تحكي قصة فيونا مونغان رئيسة تحرير مجلة مختصة بالأزياء والموضى تعيش حياة الوحدة وصلت للأربعين من عمرها ولم ترتبط بأحد لأنها تعتبر عملها الأهم في حياتها وتلتقي مصادفة بجون تحبه ومن هنا تبدأ القصة , لأسباب كثيرة يفترقا وتعيش فيونا حياة صعبة جداً وتبدأ لتشق طريقها في عالم الكتابة هل تعود لجون أم لأ ؟؟؟
كما قلت سابقاً لا تستهويني قصص الحب أو الروايات التي تتحدث عن الحب فقط لكن هذه الرواية فيها شيء مختلف جذبني لها وقررت أن أقرأ لدانيال ستيل روايات أخرى
157 reviews
January 19, 2016
As I read Steel's books, the writer's workshop mantra pops into my mind. "Show, don't tell." However, Steel TELLS. Yet every once in a while I will read one of her books. I guess I'm not reading for the great writing, but for the plot. Second Chance was OK -- as a diversion -- romance, beautiful clothing, Paris. I didn't think it was one of her better novels.
Profile Image for Janine.
729 reviews61 followers
September 28, 2017
Another easy on the ear Danielle Steel novel. Simple story but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
Profile Image for Darby.
400 reviews59 followers
May 13, 2020
It hit all the marks for this type of book. It wasn’t anything spectacular, but a good, quick read with enjoyable characters and plot.
Profile Image for Laura Llorente Benedicto.
20 reviews1 follower
August 22, 2023
Pfffff… no he podido leer más allá del primer capitulo… ya se ve venir la trama y la historia, y la verdad que me da mucho palo leer una novela así, tan predecible. No gracias!
Profile Image for alexia_fse.
61 reviews
June 29, 2025
WHY DID SHE END UP WITH HIM LIKE ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHH
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for lacy white.
714 reviews57 followers
February 5, 2025
Title: Second Chance
Author: Danielle Steel
Genre: Romance
Format: own hardback book
Series: NA
Star Rating: 3 stars

tw: infidelity, parental abandonment, parental death, drugs, mentions of eating disorders, fatphobic comments, blood, dog attack, abortion, animal death (peaceful)

This book did not hit in the way I thought it was going to. I had such high hopes for it in the beginning even though I thought the main character, Fiona, sounded like a lovely woman. There were just some things about this book that rubbed me the wrong way.

I think John just sucked as a character and I think he was the main problem I had with this book. He knew the kind of life Fiona led but yet judged her for all the clothes she had and the people she associated with. Like I don't know what he expected. He also had some horrible kids, I mean just completely rotten. This might be slightly spoilery but one of his kids had an abortion and blamed it on John dating Fiona. How the hell did John and his late wife raise his kids? That is psychotic! There were so many other things that happened with John’s kids but that seems to be a common theme with Danielle Steel’s books. The kids are always so rotten.

However, one of the worst things about John was that he just got up and left Fiona. She was so afraid of being left thanks to a rather traumatic childhood. John knew that and still decided to leave. He didn’t even bother with counseling or anything that made him entirely unforgivable in my eyes—and then had the audacity to try and come back, as if he didn’t completely destroy this woman. I was fuming almost the whole time, I was so frustrated with John.

Overall, this was not Danielle Steel’s best showing. The love interest in the book completely ruined the book. He had no redeeming qualities and I truly don’t know what Fiona actually saw in him. He was a basic man who had nothing to offer such a smart and amazing woman. His kids were garbage and he should have grounded them into the next millenia. This was mediocre at best.
Profile Image for Denisa.
48 reviews1 follower
November 14, 2023
"De când lucrurile bune au nevoie de mult timp ca să se întâmple?"

"Dacă ai noroc, poți cădea în plasa ce ți se întinde, dar, de multe ori, se întâmplă să cazi pe ciment."
114 reviews
November 30, 2010
Typical Danileee Steel novel. Rich woman meets rich man. Rich woman leads wild people-driven lifestyle. Rich man tells rich woman that he wants to move in with her ... that he does not know how to keep up with his house since his wife died two years ago and because he only has an elderly live-in houseeeper to assist with his two daughters when they return from college for weekends and a cleaning woman who comes once a week to help him/housekeeper with the upkeep of the house. Geez. They marry and he has issues with her hectic lifestyle. No tears for me with this story.
Profile Image for Fawaz Alotibe.
Author 8 books114 followers
October 13, 2014
I did realy like this book but the ending was a bit disapointed for me -_- ... John dosen't desarve a secound chance for what he did to her >< . I hoped a diffrent ending but i was shoucked with this "fake-happy ending" kind of thing...any way 3/5 it's too much for this book but at least i enjoyed -__- .
138 reviews5 followers
September 11, 2016
(Read by Matt Walton)

I liked this love story. The two main characters were endearing. And, I loved the girl's male best friend. The fashion industry descriptions were also very intriguing. The guy's daughters and housekeeper were jerks.
Profile Image for Denise.
22 reviews5 followers
March 8, 2015
I couldn't finish this book. It was full of lines like, " they had a lovely time." That's it. No elaboration. I prefer the author show me, not tell me. I didn't care about the characters for the same reason.
346 reviews3 followers
March 14, 2011
I couldn't put this book down! The ending was great and one of her better books. The characters were so realistic that you felt for them.
2,710 reviews5 followers
January 22, 2014
john really irritated me! stick by your commitments man! i thoguht the story wrapped up really quickly and a little too neatly there at the end...
Profile Image for Mary Grace.
9 reviews5 followers
November 22, 2014
second chance is only given to those who deserve to have it...
Profile Image for Melissa Ann.
259 reviews7 followers
February 27, 2016
It was an interesting book but I felt that the ending was a little too fluffy for how the book was progressing.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 276 reviews

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